Top Bankers Say U.S. Default Would Be Disastrous

WASHINGTON—Top financial leaders met with President Barack Obama and his economic team on Wednesday, warning that a protracted battle over the nation's ability to fund itself and pay its bills would have serious economic ramifications.

"There's precedent for a government shutdown. There's no precedent for default," Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein said after emerging from an hour-long meeting between Mr. Obama...